Home defeat in north London derby for Under-18s

Our Under-18s’ league season came to a disappointing end with a 5-0 home defeat in the north London derby on Saturday.

Trailing inside two minutes at Hotspur Way, a chance at a possible lifeline drifted away when Jamie Donley’s ninth-minute penalty was saved, with Arsenal pushing on to build up a three-goal lead by half-time.

Goalkeeper Aaron Maguire was needed a number of times throughout the game to prevent the visitors from doing further damage but after Donley’s downward header was saved in our best chance of the second period, the Gunners netted twice more in the closing stages to make for an unflattering final scoreline.

It means we’ve finished ninth in the Under-18 Premier League’s southern section, but with a particularly young team for much of the season, largely comprising first-year scholars and Under-16s players, there have certainly been a number of positives for coach Stuart Lewis and his players over the course of the campaign, in spite of the final-day slump.

Indeed, the below-par display against the Gunners was in stark contrast to the stirring performance on show at Brighton in midweek, where the players twice fought back from behind to ultimately snatch a late draw.

It was an uphill battle virtually from the off against our local rivals as James Sweet blasted in through a crowded area after Mauro Bandeira’s corner wasn’t properly cleared with less that two minutes played, with Billy Vigar’s subsequent shot partially blocked by the determined Alfie Dorrington before being smartly saved by Maguire.

We had an early chance to get back on level terms when Henry Jeffcott was penalised for handling Max McKnight’s cross in the box, but Donley’s penalty was saved low to his right by Arsenal goalkeeper Remy Mitchell. Our cause wasn’t helped when attacking midfielder Tom Bloxham was forced off injured after only 14 minutes as the Gunners controlled the play and built up a healthy lead – Sweet’s cross from the right was met with a cushioned finish back across goal and into the bottom corner from Jack Henry-Francis on 25 minutes before the lively Bandeira cut into the box from the right and finished on his left foot six minutes later.

Maguire produced two good saves to deny Bandeira in the moments that followed while Charles Sagoe Jr sent a header just off-target in the lead-up to half-time, with Maguire again on hand to make a fine double save at the start of the second period as Arsenal tried to turn the screw. Maguire was almost caught out on 65 minutes, though, as Sagoe Jr charged down his clearance and sent the ball spinning back towards goal, but defender Will Andiyapan was quickly on the scene to avert the danger.

Our best opportunity from open play came on 71 minutes when substitute Riley Owen stood up a good cross from the left, with Donley’s downward header well kept out by Mitchell. But after stemming the tide for a large part of the second half, we fell further behind 10 minutes later when Henry-Francis latched onto Bandeira’s cross in the box and his deflected shot from the left angle looped up and over the line, with Bandeira following in to make sure the goal stood. And our misery was compounded in the second minute of stoppage time when Ismail M’Hand robbed young defender Archie Chaplin, who had come off the bench just moments earlier, and fired inside the near post to score Arsenal’s fifth.

‘The goals were unacceptable… a tough, tough day’

Under-18s Coach Stuart said: “It's a really disappointing scoreline and a tough one to take. It was the big moments in the game that were pivotal. We missed the penalty at 1-0 and then from there, they were very disappointing goals to concede from our point of view – it was too easy around our box and you obviously get punished against the level of opposition that we faced today, so it was a disappointing performance as well as a disappointing result. We’ve spoken a lot about how we start games and you have to bring a certain energy, but to concede such a soft goal so early, it really put us on the back foot. I thought the boys actually responded quite well following that and missing the penalty was a pivotal moment, but still the goals that followed were unacceptable and it was a tough, tough day and a disappointing end to the game as well.

“The goals that we conceded were preventable – we could have been better at making blocks and stopping shots in our penalty box, but I think it’s a really important day for the boys to take the hurt and pain that they’re feeling at the moment, learn from it and try to implement the fundamentals of football that we so often speak about in training. In any game at any level, those are the necessities to win and we ultimately weren’t good enough today.”